Elizabeth II of Britain

Elizabeth II (21 April 1926-) was Queen of the United Kingdom from 6 February 1952, succeeding George VI of Britain.

Biography
Elizabeth was born in London, England in 1926, the daughter of King George VI of Britain and Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Elizabeth served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II, and in 1947 married Prince Philip of Greece. She became Queen in 1952 at the age of 25, her lavish coronation in 1953 becoming a symbol of national revival following the austerity of the 1940s. In an age when the monarch had little political influence, she devoted much of her reign to ceremonial functions and to tours of the Commonwealth and other countries. She held weekly audiences with her Prime Minister and showed a strong personal commitment to the Commonwealth. Her public popularity was seen in the enthusiasm surrounding her Silver Jubilee in 1977. The serenity and distance with which she performed her role won general respect and acclaim, but she was curiously at odds with the free use of the media by her son, Prince Charles, from the early 1990s. Despite the respect she enjoyed, in the early 1990s her role as head of state of many Commonwealth countries such as New Zealand and Australia became increasingly challenged within them.